Seeing cities through urban art

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article offers insights into how to use what are now readily-available digital versions of ‘urban art’ to explore different facets of city life. It uses paintings as a more nuanced alternative to contemporary film, which tends to offer a simplistic dystopian vision of the urban experience. The article explores the city as portrayed by influential artists working in different countries from the midnineteenth century onwards, including France in the late nineteenth century – Gustave Caillebotte (focusing on Paris); America in the early twentieth century – George Bellows (on New York); Britain in the mid-twentieth century – L.S. Lowry (on Salford); and a contemporary Chinese artist – Cao Fei (on Guangzhou). Each allows us to see the city through specific narrative choices, and each example suggests how this approach might be used in any examination of urban life.